Friday Stats Canada pointed out that not only did the Gopher lie about an early spring, any hopes for continuing job growth is out the window as well, with a loss of 55,000 jobs in March.
If you look at the big picture, employment is up 1.2% year over year, but losing that many jobs in a one-month period is a bit depressing.
These numbers also caused the unemployment rate to rise 0.2 percentage points to 7.2%. For some reason employment is never as interesting as the unemployment rate (maybe I mean more worrisome)?
The Lost Generation (as I have dubbed them) of those from 15 to 24 years old have even more depressing numbers to think about:
Among youths aged 15 to 24, employment was also little changed in March, while their unemployment rate increased 0.6 percentage points to 14.2%, as more youths searched for work. Employment among youths has been on a slight upward trend since August 2012.
The Big Table
The Big Table for this month will break down these numbers by age, but I encourage you to have a look at all 3 tables on the Stats Canada site:
Table 1
Labour force characteristics by age and sex Seasonally adjusted
| February 2013 | March 2013 | February to March 2013 | March 2012 to March 2013 | February to March 2013 | March 2012 to March 2013 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| thousands (except rates) | change in thousands (except rates) | % change | ||||
| Both sexes, 15 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 28,526.3 | 28,551.2 | 24.9 | 343.1 | 0.1 | 1.2 |
| Labour force | 19,028.9 | 19,016.6 | -12.3 | 219.2 | -0.1 | 1.2 |
| Employment | 17,696.4 | 17,641.9 | -54.5 | 203.3 | -0.3 | 1.2 |
| Full-time | 14,373.0 | 14,319.0 | -54.0 | 180.0 | -0.4 | 1.3 |
| Part-time | 3,323.4 | 3,323.0 | -0.4 | 23.4 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Unemployment | 1,332.6 | 1,374.7 | 42.1 | 15.9 | 3.2 | 1.2 |
| Participation rate | 66.7 | 66.6 | -0.1 | 0.0 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 7.0 | 7.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 62.0 | 61.8 | -0.2 | 0.0 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 18.8 | 18.8 | 0.0 | -0.1 | … | … |
| Youths, 15 to 24 years | ||||||
| Population | 4,453.8 | 4,452.5 | -1.3 | -4.2 | 0.0 | -0.1 |
| Labour force | 2,843.4 | 2,851.2 | 7.8 | 7.9 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Employment | 2,456.8 | 2,446.9 | -9.9 | 0.5 | -0.4 | 0.0 |
| Full-time | 1,283.3 | 1,285.7 | 2.4 | -18.0 | 0.2 | -1.4 |
| Part-time | 1,173.5 | 1,161.1 | -12.4 | 18.4 | -1.1 | 1.6 |
| Unemployment | 386.6 | 404.4 | 17.8 | 7.5 | 4.6 | 1.9 |
| Participation rate | 63.8 | 64.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 13.6 | 14.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 55.2 | 55.0 | -0.2 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 47.8 | 47.5 | -0.3 | 0.8 | … | … |
| Men, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 11,783.7 | 11,796.8 | 13.1 | 174.6 | 0.1 | 1.5 |
| Labour force | 8,556.8 | 8,549.5 | -7.3 | 89.1 | -0.1 | 1.1 |
| Employment | 8,047.2 | 8,024.7 | -22.5 | 98.1 | -0.3 | 1.2 |
| Full-time | 7,448.3 | 7,414.7 | -33.6 | 102.7 | -0.5 | 1.4 |
| Part-time | 598.9 | 609.9 | 11.0 | -4.7 | 1.8 | -0.8 |
| Unemployment | 509.6 | 524.8 | 15.2 | -9.0 | 3.0 | -1.7 |
| Participation rate | 72.6 | 72.5 | -0.1 | -0.3 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 6.0 | 6.1 | 0.1 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 68.3 | 68.0 | -0.3 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 7.4 | 7.6 | 0.2 | -0.2 | … | … |
| Women, 25 years and over | ||||||
| Population | 12,288.9 | 12,302.0 | 13.1 | 172.8 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Labour force | 7,628.7 | 7,615.9 | -12.8 | 122.2 | -0.2 | 1.6 |
| Employment | 7,192.3 | 7,170.4 | -21.9 | 104.8 | -0.3 | 1.5 |
| Full-time | 5,641.3 | 5,618.5 | -22.8 | 95.1 | -0.4 | 1.7 |
| Part-time | 1,551.0 | 1,551.9 | 0.9 | 9.7 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| Unemployment | 436.3 | 445.5 | 9.2 | 17.4 | 2.1 | 4.1 |
| Participation rate | 62.1 | 61.9 | -0.2 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Unemployment rate | 5.7 | 5.8 | 0.1 | 0.1 | … | … |
| Employment rate | 58.5 | 58.3 | -0.2 | 0.0 | … | … |
| Part-time rate | 21.6 | 21.6 | 0.0 | -0.2 | … | … |
The 2013 Job Picture
- Less Jobs in January in Canada not a good start to 2013.
- More Jobs in February in Canada which is better than January.
- Job Picture Less Rosey in March for Canada 2013 seems to have had it’s ups and downs.
- Employment Hovers for April in Canada better than down.
- More Jobs for May in Canada never a bad thing.
- Employment Unchanged for June in Canada, swooning in the summer.
- 39000 Less Jobs in July in Canada ? Oh dear…
- More Part-time Jobs in Canada in August which isn’t a bad thing, but full-time would be better.
- More Working in September in Canada ? Good!
- Some More Jobs in Canada (but not a lot more) for October in 2013
- Better Job News in Canada for November ’tis the season.
- Ugly Job Numbers to End 2013 not the best way to end the year.
Things aren’t so rosy for the 50+ either. Just look at what’s happening at RBC: it’s not the only company with the outsourcing/offshoring “answer” to profitability. Sigh.
Maybe we’ll look back over these times of the ‘lost generation’ as times when a shift in the world led onto something better! Got to get through depressing figures somehow!
Well all those old farts like me need to retire and then create the vacuum that this generation will need to fill.